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I think it would be very hard to say that any given brand is "best". There are so many different tastes in stones and so many different stones that all produce good - great results I think it comes more down to trying to find a stone that best represents the best blend of the feel and performance that you are looking for.

^+1 on gessin. I just don't like the splash and go 1k I have. I do like the 1k/4k combo I keep at work for emergency touchups. I do find that they do best when permasoaked or a long soak, more than the minimum 15 min recomendation. It hard to find a better deal than them

In my experience, no conventional synthetic stone beats the Gesshin 400-2k-4k series for knives. Strictly on value, the Beston-Bester-Suehiro Rika is top dog and has been for several years. The Rika has a bonus in that it does a kasumi finish like few other synthetics. If you want different finishes or have particularly difficult steel or you're looking for a particular kind of edge, you might try some other stones, esp naturals but I don't think it's worth looking any further for an all-around small line-up solution.

The general suggestions so far demonstrate the point: Gesshin is not a stone company, so much as a lineup, since it is all the stones Jon has hand picked. Beston-Bester-Rika is Dave's big three. There is just no one best brand, because it is not only subjective, but it is very application specific. It'd be like asking "What is the best brand of condiments?" or "Who makes the best vehicles?".

...There is just no one best brand, because it is not only subjective...

There is some subjectivity (hardness, rate of dishing, rate of cutting, porosity, etc.). However, some stones are unquestionably better than others. The Gesshin stones are the way they are because a load of people of various levels of experience decided these characteristics were ideal and they'd be willing to pay for the advantages and Jon and Sara took the information and made it happen.